Point & Feather offers casual darts, food, and gin cocktails

The dart-focused Point & Feather, which opens Nov. 9, will serve relaxed vibes and elevated comfort food in a large, cozy River North space.

(Erin Hooley)

Grace WongChicago Tribune

Point & Feather, the newest spot from restaurateur Adolfo Garcia, is aiming to be your refuge from more raucous River North nightlife spots. The bar opens Thursday.

“I wanted to create something that is casual and yet extremely crafted as far as cocktails and food,” Garcia said. Darts lend their name to the space (the point being the dart’s tip, the feather being the tail), with 12 boards throughout. “I wanted to bring something interactive to the whole vibe.

“We’re not an arcade, we’re not an official dart bar,” Garcia said. “We’re a really cool hangout that has darts machines blending in with elements of design.”

The space channels the aesthetic of a library, with small sectioned-off “living rooms” with leather chairs, Persian-style rugs and other vintage touches. Brace yourselves, fellow bibliophiles: To achieve the bookish vibe, Garcia filled the army green book shelves with 10,000 books purchased from the New York Public Library, covers removed to achieve a uniform look. The semiprivate spaces each have their own dart board, available to play for free. Giant murals by local artists J.C. Riviera and Jenny Vyas adorn the walls, while reclaimed Spanish tile wraparound giant columns punctuating the dining room.

The food menu, a collaboration with chefs Rick Rodriguez (Whisk and Son of a Butcher by Whisk) and Ryan Wombacher (formerly of Hampton Social), is made up mostly of rustic American fare and shareable plates. Some notable items include mojo-marinated half chicken served with Spanish rice and black beans, waffle cones stuffed with hot chicken and shrimp-stuffed shishito peppers, and corn dogs made with blue crab.

Beverage director Emily deKanter (also of Garcia’s Broken English Taco Pub) said she hopes to make gin more young and approachable through her botanical-driven bar program. Think frozen gin-and-tonics, plus nods to European-style drinks. On Fridays, Point & Feather will have build-your-own botanical gin and tonics for $5, with herbs and botanicals at the ready for creating one’s own drink. The menu will be rounded out with a simple and curated wine list, plus local and popular beers.

“Combining a little bit of those places that I’ve done (Broken English, Son of a Butcher), you mix rustic bohemian with fun food, cocktails and music, then you got yourself a really cool hangout,” Garcia said.

Over the speakers, Garcia said he’ll play music from the likes LCD Soundsystem, Empire of the Sun and David Bowie, not Top 40s like other River North bars. Garcia said the music is almost as important as the meal.

“I want to build a place that I want to come and hang out every day and work the crowd,” Garcia said.

In her quest to find out what happened to big Jewish delis in Chicago, Louisa Chu ate her way through dozens of corned beef and other sandwiches plus bowls of chicken soup throughout the area, in delis and in other restaurants. Here is her answer to where you can find good ones. (Louisa Chu/Chicago Tribune)